Technics SL1200/1210 debate

Thanks for the life advice, Steven. Next time I need this from a taxi driver, I'll find one with some common sense, thanks.
 
David, we would all be wiser if you would answer my question.

I expected more from you than you cheep shots. Never mind.
 
Lee you have little in the way of common sense I am afraid as is revealed by your rather confrontational posting style.

Come to think of it your style is remarkably similar to that of McPeake. Uncannily so.

Surely just one user account would suffice in fact.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
okay - time out everybody!

Let's get back on to the main road, shall we?

We've ended up down a dark country lane, in a rutted cart track, with a rusty nail in the tyre! Time to engage reverse!
 
Tape

Brought up using cassette and loved it.
Sounds superb on a good Nak or open reel, in fact I still own a half track Revox and probably the besst 3 head cassette deck JVC ever made in the DD9 - a quartz locked DD monster with onboard auto tape calibration system.
That these produce excellent recordings is not the issue - they do.
However, even a simple laptop recording to HD via the analogue input will kill them. Time moves on and sometimes we do get genuine progress.
 
Indeed. My turntable options include buying Marco's deck if/when he gets an SP10 or get my own 1200 from Dave Cawley. I wish to avoid the hassle of using the Denon cart though although I would like a similarly weighty presentation.

My grounded grid pre has a valve (a Mullard of some description) moving magnet phono stage built in needing gain adjustment that can be easily arranged.

Any suggestions?
 
Hi Rob - yes, I think you get a very tight clean sound with digital. But don't you find it a little two dimensional and lacking in atmosphere? It's also a bit thin sounding, especially through cheap A-Ds, isn't it? I'm finding certain really well set up cassette decks can sound so much more musical; a perfectly aligned Walkie Pro for example, on TDK MA-R.
 
Hi David / Steven

To get back on track - how about a run-down on what you need to do to make the Tecnics deck perform at it's best?

I'd love to know -

1) cost of parts
2) time to do modifcation/complexity
3) what parts are needed
4) what the end results looks like from a visual perspective

I'm not asking in any way to 'do down' the result - I am interested and would genuinely like to know.

I appreciate that one 'tweak' for example an SME V is going to be different from a Jelco etc... it is more the other aspects - PSU changes, support/suspension changes etc.

We've had a lot of debate (pages) without a good description (with photos even better!) of what exactly we're talking about in terms of modifications.

I would not be suprised to find that this has led to much misinterpretation of the finished article.

Cheers
 
Hi Bottleneck - great question! I've got to go out now for a few hours. I'll answer some specifics when I get back this evening, I am sure others will have their experiences too. David
 
Hi,

Point of information. Marco is banned from this forum. So can we not keep mentioning him.

SCIDB
 
It is about time he was unbanned after all these years and given that he is admin on a site at least as busy as this one. He also has all the requisite information on this topic.

Meanwhile I will dig out my quote from Dave Cawley for all the bits including arm, cart, Timestep PSU, feet, mats and phono stage.
 
Paul Ranson said:
In the context of this thread it is notable that the Technics are extraordinarily well engineered, but to achieve audiophile acceptability they need crude modification with exciting sounding names.
Click to expand...

I think this remark has sailed over a few heads. A few questions for DP:

What is the "problem" with the original PS?

How does the unmodified Technics compare with the PS-modified version (same arm, etc.)?

If the £300 "Timestep" PS (presumably constructed on someone's kitchen table) genuinely catapults the Technics into superdeck territory, then are we really expected to believe that Technics couldn't have achieved this themselves at some point during the past 37 years?

No-one seems to know anything very much about vibration pathways in the design of the Technics 1210. Maybe there aren't any?
 
Dave Cawley's quotes:

New SL-1200 £379.00 or buy on the Internet for £320 and send it to me?

My solution:-
Arm plate £29.95 *
Jelco SA-250ST £299.00
Audio Technica OC9ML/II cartridge £210.00 (discount from our normal price)
Mat £79.95 *
External PSU £299.00 *
Fitting everything £55.00
Record weight £95.00 *
Phono stage A.N.T Audio MC £495.00 *

Marco's solution:-
Arm plate £29.95 *
Jelco SA-750D £375.00
AT headshell £65.00
Machining on AT headshell £25.00 *
Denon DL103R £195.00
Mat £79.95
External PSU £299.99 *
Fitting everything £55.00
Record weight £95.00 *
Step up transformer (not sure where Marco got it from?)

Items marked with a * we can give 18% discount
Click to expand...
 
Steven Toy said:
....given that he is admin on a site at least as busy as this one....
Click to expand...

To be honest Steven I don't see how relevant that is. In addition, this isn't a particularly busy forum; it is at this moment, but it's pretty quiet a lot of the time.
 
Steven Toy said:
It is about time he was unbanned after all these years and given that he is admin on a site at least as busy as this one. He also has all the requisite information on this topic.

Meanwhile I will dig out my quote from Dave Cawley for all the bits including arm, cart, Timestep PSU, feet, mats and phono stage.
Click to expand...

Hi Steven,

You are well aware of why he has been banned from this and other forums.

As for busy forums. Zerogain still gets alot of traffic. The number of postings my be down but we still get a lot of viewing.

Look here for your site's traffic rating and here for our traffic rating. Pinkfishmedia and hifiwigwam are here.

SCIDB
 
I don't dispute the viewing figures but in terms of activity (until last few days) this place is a graveyard. With the likes of SS/Devil around more creative discussions furthering knowledge and new possibilities will be stifled as more creative posters will be put off.

A little pruning may be in order. Indeed when a certain individual was kicked off PFM the place grew from strength to strength and given that the same individual was effectively exiled here this place went into decline in terms of posting activity.

Perhaps it is just a coincidence.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top